About Us

Since 2003, the NCCRC has provided support, research, and coordination for advocates seeking to expand the right to counsel in the most serious civil cases, such as housing, domestic violence, child custody, and more.

Prior to 2003, advocates around the country were working hard to secure the right to counsel in significant civil cases. However, there was no central location where they could share their ideas, research, and advocacy and there was no organization set up to provide support for their efforts. At the 2003 National Legal Aid and Defender Association conference, the idea arose to create such an entity, which led to the establishment of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (the NCCRC), now the national hub for research, advocacy, litigation and legislative support, and public education about the civil right to counsel.

Initially a multi-organizational collaboration between the Public Justice Center (PJC), the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Northwest Justice Project, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee of Legal Aid and Indigent Defense, the NCCRC is now solely operated by the PJC and looks vastly different today. We’re now a well-known national network of 600+ participants and partners committed to exploring how best to advance the right to counsel in civil cases.

We help to advance the civil right to counsel by:

• Providing support for civil right to counsel (CRTC) enactment, expansion, and implementation efforts in 47 states;
• Tracking and responding to legislation seeking to expand or constrict CRTC;
• Supporting efforts to establish CRTC as a constitutional right via litigation;
• Maintaining the nation’s primary CRTC research hub and status map;
• Educating thousands across the country through presentations, publications, and the press;
• Connecting advocates and efforts nationwide to foster a CRTC movement that shares knowledge, strategies, and trust.